In this paper an attempt is made to widen the perspective under which interorganizational networks are generally seen. It is argued that both in the economy and in policy making, network phenomena are in fact becoming more prominent. This is linked to functional differentiation, a core process...

The purpose of this paper, which was written for a forthcoming book on the state-of-the-art in the social sciences, is to survey the influence which natural science concepts and models have recently had on theoretical developments in the social sciences, especially sociology. Such influences can...